Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre — Attraction in Tay

Such a great place, even if you do not have kids. :)

The surprise were all the adorable owls there... most of them like to chill out or hide except for one owl (Casper?) who loves to show off and fly to you - but only if you look the other way.

The "Bee House" actually had a swarm of bees, hearing them up close was something that I had never experienced before.

Of course, the paths themselves were lovely - definitely muddy if it was recently raining so wear shoes you don't mind getting dirty. A hat and sunglasses is not a bad idea either. The boardwalk over the marsh was something very magical. Even on a long weekend it was not busy, in fact there was nobody else much of the time. I saw a lot of frogs, turtles, fishes... in the clear water below and on top of lilies. Little fact boards all over the place but not too overwhelming.

You can cover the above in 2 hours, but if you had more time you can check out more pathways. Not very strenuous as the paths are pretty much all flat; the boardwalk area was very sunny, but the rest was very shaded. There are lots of benches to sit on along the way.

Wye also offers a canoe tour of the marsh which sounded promising, but I only found out after that it's actually $8/pp (or so) after I went to the docks! They should have been more clear with the display boards, which only listed the start times (and the front desk person just advised us to go to the canoe docks if you were interested). If you are interested in this, please note you have to pay at the front desk area, and sign some sort of additional waiver. I feel like it would've quite interesting though!

Overall,...

Wonderful place! A bit pricey.

What it is: It took us 1.5 hours to cover the trails with small children. They have rescued birds and animals that are in tanks indoors or birds of prey in cages outdoors. The indoor part is small with educational signs; they had turtles and snakes. The outdoor birds of prey section had owls (snowy, etc.), eagle, raven, etc. Along the trails, there is an enormous lookout tower that is fun to view the landscape when you get to the top. You will also find a sugar shack and a few other buildings; none are in operation. There is also an absolutely delightful Trumpeter swan area on a pond. What an experience watching them honk and flap their wings at each other! 1/3 of Ontario's Trumpeter swans are at this marsh. They are trying to help them. See my pics.

Washrooms: They are in the main building. There are none along the trail. There are no indoor places along the path to go to the washroom, breastfeed, or change a diaper.

Admission: $12+ tax for adults, children and students are $9 + tax , children 3 and under are free.

Parking: Free, and there is a decent amount of it.

Food/Snacks: There was no snack shop on site.

Gift shop: shirts, jewelry, books, stuffed animals, sticker books, mugs, kits, honey, maple syrup, etc.

Types of ground surfaces: Smooth trail paths and sometimes boardwalks. I went when the paths were covered in snow.

COVID: Some of the paths have two-way tight foot traffic, so you might want to be masked outdoors. I was told that schools take trips here...

It’s been a few years since I last went to the Wye Marsh and during that time there have been significant changes, both good and bad. On the good side the trail system has expanded significantly. However, the visitor centre was very disappointing. The displays were ‘in progress’ with no explanations of what was being seen. In previous visits there were numerous stations were live animals could be observed. Today there were 3 tanks with plaques indicating various turtles on display. These tanks were empty save for the water. The reason I took my visitors to the centre was primarily because of the opportunity to see animals up close. Both they and myself came away very disappointed. At the viewing station there is a sign that says the binoculars have been donated by Bushnell but there are no...